A New Dragon
by Gibs123
Summary: A new figure comes to the island. What new adventures will he bring with him, what troubles will come to the island in his wake?
1. Chapter 1

It was an ashen morning on the island of Birk. The willow trees where fighting the onslaught of winter. Here it didn't descended gracefully; it tore into the landscape, and strangled all life away. But this was the home of the Vikings and the Dragons. It was the scene of thousands of wars and battles, and the graveyard for many great warriors.  
The entire village was gathered at the small wooden dock, it was time for the merchant to arrive. They peered into the suffocating fog, trying to gleam some indication of a sail or hull. This had become a custom; it was the one time a year that the people of Birk got to interact with someone from outside.  
Slowly a sail became visible, and the dark, wooden hull of the long awaited merchant came into view as it prepared to dock.  
"Meastrox! How have you been? You brought some good things?" Stoick asked.  
"Always. I know better than to show up without some good items..." Meastrox replied.  
The conversation dwindled after a short while as things were traded.  
Astrid looked at several weapons, mainly interesting axes. Hiccup was enthralled with some interesting trinkets. An hour passed and Meastrox's stock was hitting empty, when he suddenly remembered.  
"Oh! I almost forgot to tell him!" Meastrox exclaimed, aiming for the stairs.  
"Forgot to tell whom what?" Stoick asked.  
"I have a passenger." Meastrox replied.  
"I never took you to be one to offer rides, Meastrox." Stoick persisted.  
"This one was... very persuasive." Meastrox answered as he vanished down the stairs.  
Moments later he emerged with a strange and mysterious character. The fellow was rather long and slender, not exceptionally so, but still. He wore a black one-piece that covered his body. Two long strands of the suit waved in the cold autumn wind. His face was covered by two extensions of the suit, on came up to just over his nose, while the other extended from his back, up his neck and over his head down to his brow. Astrid and Hiccup came closer when they saw the figure emerge from the boat. He walked in a graceful and calculating manner. Astrid got the distinct sense that he was a killer, one who could slice a dozen men in half before the first blinked. It sent a chill down her spine.  
"Stoick, this is... What did you say your name was again?" Meastrox said.  
"Yamamoto 'Kage' Ishiyama." The figure said matter-of-factly.  
"A strange name." Stoick thought out loud.  
"I hail from far away, the Eastern banks of Japan." The Kage answered in impeccable Norse.  
"I see." Stoick replied. "But what brings you here? Birk is hardly a tourist attraction."  
Kage seemed to think his reply over for a second before answering.  
"That is why I chose it. I have come to break away from the buzz of life from where I come from."  
Stoick nodded.  
"Well, you are welcome here." He said, opening his arms wide in an overly friendly and dramatic gesture.  
"Thank you." Kage answered.  
He turned to the stairs and descended into the hold. A minute later he emerged carrying a small backpack, a sword, a shovel, a massive bow and a quiver with arrows. He looked at their surprised faces.  
"You're a warrior?" Hiccup asked.  
"Yes. I am a Shinobi, an assassin. But I am looking to settle down for a bit, rest." Kage answered.  
Stoick and his father shared a glance.  
"I don't want any trouble." Stoick informed him.  
"Do not worry, unless one of you starts the trouble, there won't be any." Kage answered unperturbed by Stoick's size.  
He walked past them and stepped off the boat. As he passed Astrid, he looked her in her eyes. She saw two dark purple eyes beam at her from under the cap. They looked both tired and worn, and youthful and energetic. They spoke of someone who had seen worse than should ever be seen, had done more than was thought possible, but also of someone who still enjoyed life, still appreciated the small things. Something in those eyes attracted Astrid, something about the foreboding was actually inviting. She broke the glance as he stepped onto the dock platform.  
Kage continued to stand there like a statue while they waved off Meastrox for the next year. The fog had cleared and they could see the boat all the way as it left the quay and vanished around the coast.  
Only when the last fibre of the sail was gone, only then did Stoic return his attention to Kage.  
"We do not have any empty houses, but we can build one, though that will take a while." Stoic offered.  
"Thank you, but I prefer to build my own abode. I have exacting standards." Kage replied. "All I will need is a high place, one a bit separated from the main collection of houses." Kage continued.  
Stoic nodded and looked at Hiccup.  
"Hiccup, will you show him the hill top? It should be good for house building." Stoic asked without really giving Hiccup a choice.  
Hiccup nodded and motioned for Kage to follow him. They walked up to Toothless and Hiccup mounted him.  
"You coming?" He asked Kage as Astrid climbed aboard her own dragon.  
"No, I will keep up on foot." Kage replied.  
"I don't think you will be able to keep up with Toothless, he's pretty fast." Hiccup insisted.  
"You'd be surprised." Was all Kage said.  
He said it in a manner that read.  
'You have no idea'  
Hiccup wasn't in the mood to argue, and he saw that Toothless wasn't too easy with this guy, so he wasn't bothered too much that Kage didn't want to ride him. He took to the skies, and Kage was closed behind. He jump soundlessly from tree to tree following Hiccup and Astrid. He was a fast as lightning, and a silent as a winter's night. You only saw him in the instances between jumps.  
They soon reached the hilltop where Stoic had told Kage he could build his house. It had a view of the town about twenty minutes' walk away, and it was close to the forest.  
"Here we are.". Hiccup told Kage.  
"Thank you, but I'd better get to work. Kage replied.  
He immediately got to work finding wood for the house. It took him the whole morning, but by midday he was ready to begin chopping up the wood. Hiccup came up to check up on him, and found him in the middle of the chopping process. Hiccup hid behind a tree, not certain if Kage had seen or heard him. He poked his head out to see what he was doing.  
Kage inserted the blade into the one end of the stump, stared down the length of the stump for a minute, then thrust his sword. The sword slowly came out of the wood as it continued along the arch, but the wood kept splitting far beyond the point where the sword had stopped cutting. The stump split in two. Hiccup was amazed.  
'He's freekin' good!' He thought to himself.  
"You come out, Hiccup. I know you're hiding behind that bush.". Kage suddenly said without looking around.  
Hiccup was frozen for a second, then revealed his position.  
"How'd you know?" He asked Kage.  
"I have spent the past six years honing my senses, I should think I can hear the flapping of a bird's wings, not to mention a dragon's." Kage stated matter-of-factly. "If you want, you can help." He suggested.  
"Alright." Hiccup answered, glad the subject had been changed.  
The two worked hard throughout the afternoon, and at sun down they had finished and planted the corner pillars for the house. Kage had also built himself a temporary shelter for the evening.  
"At this rate, we can have the roof and floor in by tomorrow. Then on Wednesday, I can put in the walls." Kage answered satisfactorily.  
"You work fast." Hiccup complimented.  
Kage didn't answer, he merely nodded.  
"Astrid is on her way." He mumbled.  
Hiccup looked down the slope, and surely there was Astrid, coming up the slope on her Nadderhead.  
'Shit' Hiccup thought. 'This guy is REALLY good.'  
Astrid was at the fire soon afterwards.  
"You guys made good progress." She commented looking at the poles half buried in the ground.  
"Yes. He has no breaks." Hiccup answered.  
Astrid nodded as she glanced at the figure laying on the ground. He had removed his face guard and his top was at his hips. Astrid could see his dark brown hair, his soft yet definite facial features. They spoke of someone that was capable of great feats of hatred, and great acts of compassion. Her eyes rolled over his torso, he had slender muscles, they were long, not short and stocky like those of a Viking. She thought it must be from fighting long and hard battles, not furious short encounters. She had the distinct impression that he could trail you for a month without sleep or rest, and still have the strength and energy to kill you quickly and easily. It made her shudder, the thought of being close to someone like him. And yet, for some unbenounced reason, she liked it. She found it soothing to know that someone was more powerful than her, like she no longer had to keep up the facade. She felt like she could be herself around him, it felt good.  
"You coming?" Hiccup's voice brought her back.  
"Yes, I'm coming." She replied.  
Kage watched them leave.  
"Good kids, let's hope I don' have to harm them when the time comes."  
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device


	2. Chapter 2

Progress was quick, but it took it's toll on both Hiccup and Kage. They had finished the roof and the floor early, and Kage started working on the trough whilst Hiccup mended his wounds.  
"I have no idea how you do this." Hiccup spoke.  
"Do what?" Kage asked puzzled.  
"How you can work this hard so constantly and not get worn and tired." Hiccup explained.  
Kage thought about it for a while. In his early childhood he had been surrounded by people whom were close to his strength. He had always been just a little bit stronger, but had never had any real advantage over them. For the first time in his life, he was way out of his companions' league.  
"I do get tired, but I have been trained not to heed to it." He answered finally.  
Hiccup thought about this.  
'He must have had some training.' He thought.  
"You have an interesting house plan." He noted.  
'He is a strange one.' Kage thought.  
The rest of the tribe were warriors. They didn't concern themselves with such fine things. They were not inquisitive, but Hiccup, he wanted to know everything.  
'There might be hope for him yet.' He mused.  
"It is different from yours, yes." He answered.  
"But why do you have different wood for the walls? Yellow Wood is softer than the Black Wood." Hiccup persisted.  
"Exactly. The yellow wood is just what I need. I'm not going to make wooden walls, I'm making paper walls." He replied.  
"Paper walls?" Hiccup asked.  
"Yes. Paper is similar to what you use to write on, but it is softer and whiter. It makes a beautiful finish to the home." He answered.  
"I see, but we use animal skins to write on, how do you make the paper?" He sounded truly interested.  
"You break the wood down into little chiplets, and then soak it in water, when you dry it in thin sheets, it's paper." Kage answered.  
Hiccup thought about it, it took him a while to wrap his head around this new process. He left soon afterwards. Kage was along on the hilltop, to the one end was the vertical cliff face that looked down on the village, and to the other the gentle slope the headed towards where the rice paddy would be. Kage smiled at himself. He was thinking ahead, something he had not done in years. In his line of work it was best not to think ahead, it only created more things that were never done, more goals that would never be reached. But he felt safe to let his mind wander for now, his test was still far in the future.  
He worked until late that night, pulping trees and laying out sheets upon sheets of paper. He only caught three hours of sleep before the sun woke him for the day. He worked hard and had completed half the walled by the time Hiccup came by with breakfast.  
"Did you sleep at all last night?" Hiccup asked when he saw how far Kage had come.  
"A little. I still have much to do." Kage answered.  
They continued working throughout the day, and by two they were done with the walls.  
"Anything else?" Hiccup asked as he slowly lowered himself to the ground near Kage, moaning from the pressure and friction sores.  
"Not for now." Kage teased.  
They had lunch, and Kage set off to explore the island.

Gobber was working hard in his shop. Business was good as always, and he was steeped in sweat. He took the chance he got during a break between appointments to steel a glance at the sky. What he saw worried him. Dark clouds were coming in from the east, a storm was brewing. He left the shop and headed for Stoick's house.  
He found Stoick melding an argument between neighbours.  
"This better be good." Stoick told Gobber as he came up the stair to the porch in front of the house.  
"We have a serious storm brewing." Gobber said pointing at the dark clouds with his hook.  
"This early in the season?" Stoick asked as he followed Gobber's hook to the horizon.  
"Yes, and it looks pretty bad." Gobber reinforced his statement with a vicious swing of his hook that almost caught one of the bystanders in the eye.  
"We'd better consult Gothie." Stoick ordered, already heading in the direction of her house.  
And so it was. Gothie informed the two that there was indeed a severe storm on the way. They headed back to prepare.  
"This is a bad omen, Gobber. I can feel the gods' unease. Something else is coming as well. Make sure our armoury is well protected against the storm, we may need it soon." Gobber wanted to answer, but Stoick was already on his way up the hill to Kage's house to inform him.  
"That Stoick has a one track mind he does." Gobber talked to himself as he walked to the armoury.

Kage emerged from the house as Stoick reached the small plato on which his house was built. He looked at the man as he walked up to him.  
"Evening, Stoick." He greeted the chief.  
"Evening, Kage." Stoick greeted in return.  
He forgot about the clouds for a moment as he stared at the strange house in front of him. The thin, white walls were never found in Viking architecture and it stunned him. He looked at the workmanship on the fine roof linings. They were covered in the smallest wood ornamental statues, carved from the stumps themselves. The floor planks were flat and fitted into each other perfectly. It was beautiful.  
"She's quite a beauty, isn't she?" Kage asked, seeing the look on Stoick's face.  
"She is indeed." Stoick answered under his breath.  
Remembering the reason for his visit he added. "We have a storm coming. Are you sure she'll hold?"  
"She will, she was built not just for looks. The corner poles are half way sunk into the ground." Kage replied.  
The conversation digressed to other topics for several minutes before Stoick headed back down the slope.  
"It is very early for the first to be coming, this might be something else, but I can sense the trouble. This is not just a storm." Kage said out loud.


End file.
